GEEAT CAEOLIISrA WEEN. 229 



of a fence rail, top of a stump, or even to the topmost branch of a solitary 

 tree, it pours forth a succession of notes more varied ind nearly as loud 

 as those of the Brown Thrush This song is prolonged until he s-eema 

 to have silenced till the less gil ted songsters in the neighborhood; then 

 with a downward flight he seeks the retirement of his favorite thicket 

 and the company of his approving mate. It has still another note, Joud 

 and emphatic, the most frequently heard of all, which an aequ;iintance 

 renders " Jaeger cheats, Jdegrr cheats, Jaeger cheats." I can vouch for the 

 truthfulness of the paraphrase, the charge is doubtless unfounded. These 

 notes are heard both in winter and summer, the prolonged performance 

 is heard only in spring and early summer. 



These birds have apparently been increasing in numbers, in this 

 vicinity, in late yetirs. Certainly more of them are seen, and breed, 

 wiihin the city limits than formerly. The nest is placed in the interior 

 of a barn, shed or other building, or if in the woods, in the cavity of a log 

 or stump. Sometimes quite a large cavity is filled with leaves, grass, 

 feathers and other materials. The neat is frequently roofed over having 

 an entrance on the side. The female lays from five to seven eggs, reddish 

 white, thickly spotted with various shades of reddish brown. "They vary, 

 in size and shape in the Fame nest, and measure from .75 to .70 by .65 to 

 .60. Mr. Charles Durj', of Avandale, Ohio, records (l.c) that one pair of 

 birds built three nests, each containing five eggs, by the 19th of July, the 

 male caring for the young while the femile was engaged in building, 

 laying and incubating for the succeeding brood. When breeding in the 

 woods the old bird.s manifest considerable ingenuity in protecting their 

 young, one of them attracting the attention of the intruder, and by vari- 

 ous arts endeavoring to draw him from the spot, while the ' ther stealthily 

 escorts first one and then another of the fltdglings to a place of safety. 



The Carolina Wren frequently climbs trees. On the first occasion that 

 I noticed this habit, a pair of them ascended the trunk of a large oak tree 

 for more than fifty feet. They accomplished this exactly in the manner 

 of the Creeper, now moving up and now circling around, only stopping 

 a moment, now and then, to peer and pick in the crevices of the bark, 

 and at short intervals uttering a single note like that of the Nuthatch, 

 but lower and softer. I have several times witnessed the same actions. 



There is a marked variation in color among these birds. Some have 

 the brown of upper parts decidedly suffused with ashy, the under' parts 

 whitish or ashy without a trace of tawny on breast or abdomen ; others 

 have the upper parts rich dark red-brown with hardly a trace of ashy 

 even on the head, while the under parts are bright uniform ferrugineous. 

 Between these extremes every intermediate phase may be found. These 



